NLRB certifies Covington mill's local union

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.roanoke.com/business/wb/223960

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

After a series of close votes, neither side contested the results of the Oct. 14 election.

By Duncan Adams

On Monday, the National Labor Relations Board certified the Covington Paperworkers Union Local 675 as the new contract bargaining unit for about 900 union members at the MeadWestvaco paper mill in Covington.

But that does not mean that Bobby Harrison, president of opponent United Steelworkers Local 8-675, is prepared to join hands with CPU officers and sing "Kumbaya."

CPU won an Oct. 14 election, besting the USW local by 39 votes. Two previous elections had failed to resolve which union local would represent workers during contract negotiations, grievance proceedings and other labor-related discussions with MeadWestvaco.

The NLRB certified the Oct. 14 election after neither side protested the election results by the deadline of Friday.

Roy Hall, president of CPU, said Local 675 plans to focus first on "unification of the membership," trying to bring the two sides back together to form a stronger union.

But Harrison said Monday that he and an as yet undetermined number of Steelworkers at the mill have no intention of joining CPU and expect the upstart union to ultimately fail.

FULL story at link.

[dgibby]

1. Thanks.

That mill employs lots of people in my hometown, along with CSX. Don't know what we'd do without either of them.